Deer in Rocky Mountain National Park

Last weekend while we were in Estes Park, we decided to drive into Rocky Mountain National Park to look for elk. It had decided to start snowing just as we went into the park. We saw a herd of female elk with one bull out in the snow. The snow quickly coated the trees and probably chased most of the animals under cover. The flurry lasted long enough that we decided to find dinner.

After dinner, we went back through the park since the snow had stopped. It was almost dark when we saw the deer near the road along with a dozen cars. The two bucks were hanging out on either side of a group of does. The camera really wanted more light.

Memory Lane

I know not everyone remembers these but I do. This one showed at Monday night knitting a couple of weeks ago. One of the members had been given a stack to pass on to good homes. O.K. maybe my home isn't the best home for magazines but this one had a project I was interested in.

Also, I remember Workbasket from my childhood. My Mom subscribed for years and when we moved after 2nd grade, she sorted through a box of them. I think she decided to cancel the subscription shortly after the move when she got a part time job.

I honestly thought they had been published since then but this one is from 1989.

Images from the highway Y

These are pictures taken from the Y in Sedona. The Y is where highway 89a turns slight west and highway 179 starts and heads south east. It is just below old town or uptown.

BOOM BOOM

The white rhino at Out of Africa has a story. So far, it has a happy ending.

BoomBoom use to live in a zoo in the NorthEast. At some point the zoo decided not to keep him. Some Safari shoot type outfit was all set to buy him. At which point he would have been put in a pasture for some 'great' hunter to shoot. I have no idea what the price is to shoot a sitting/standing rhino. I am just going to say it is too much. There is no sport in this.

Fortunately, for BoomBoom a clothing line tycoon out bid these folks and donated him to Out of Africa. I wish I remembered the name but I am horrible with names.

Now, BoomBoom is living happily ever-after. He has nice little mud pond, some trees, and shelter. People bring him hay and use a scrub brush to scratch his hide.

If I remember correctly, they said is 28. I have no idea how long rhinos live. I did get the impression that he is a senior.

Out of Africa - plains animals

To see the different plains animals at Out of Africa, you hop on a converted school bus and go through a couple gates to the plains area which is several acres.

The school bus is missing its windows and is jacked up. This keeps the zebras, ibex, and eland out. The giraffes have access and you are allowed to feed them a cookie. The animals believe this is the cookie wagon. I believe the cookies are an approve diet item.

Since, they want the cookies, they walk right up to the bus. The driver has to be careful because they just stand and eat or wait for more cookies.

The picture with a bit of fence is of the mean plains animal. They are kept behind a fence for everyones safety. A lot of zoos refuse to keep them since they just attack everything. According to the driver, when they are giving birth, they will still try to gore a person.

The rest are more friendly. Visitors can't feed any that have upper teeth. This keeps people from getting bitten.

Out of Africa - Other Cats

Besides Lions and Tigers, they have Cougars, Panthers, an Amur leopard, and Jaguars.

Their Amur leopard is missing a leg. This happened at an early age and she has done fine for years. I saw somewhere that Amur leopards are considered the rarest of the leopards. I guess they have beat out the snow leopard. They live in Russia normally and that is about all I know.

Jaguars like rustling noise. When I unzipped the camera bag, I got some undivided attention from the black one. The fence was definitely a good idea.

Out of Africa - Lions

They do have a number of lions at the park. Each male has his area with a couple of females. Just before we left the park the male lions started calling or talking. I can see where this would be nerve racking in the plains of Africa.

They put a young lioness and a young white tiger in the tiger splash area to work with them and have them get use to people. Again, no pictures because of how cameras treat fences. The lioness did stay out of the water. They were both young enough that they could be towed on the toys.

Out of Africa - Tigers

The are a number of tigers at the park. Yes, I know tigers are from Asia not Africa. I like tigers and therefore don't care about the accuracy of the name of the park.

One of the shows is great fun to watch. I don't have pictures because the camera was going to focus on the fence. The show is called Tiger splash. it involved a pool, two tigers, and about eight people. The announcer starts off with the don't do this at home message. I don't know about you but I don't have tigers or a pool at home so, no worries. Four of the people spend their time getting the tigers to run and pounce by running with balloon toys. The day we were there the two tigers were 2 year old males and one of them loved the pool. I think the sleeping tiger was one of the two.

It was mentioned that white tigers aren't born in the wild anymore. They made it sound like the dwindling tiger population was reason.

Out of Africa - Zebras

I am just going to do several posts for Out of Africa. It is south of Sedona and a lot of fun. Starting with the zebras.

The smaller baby zebra in the photos is the oldest. It was premature. And yes they are born with brown stripes which turn black as they mature.

After listening to the guide, I have no desire to be a zebra. Starting around three, female zebras spend the rest of their life pregnant or nursing. There may be time off for seniors. The pregnancy last 13 months and produces an 80 pound baby.

I am glad I am not a female zebra.

Devil's Bridge Hike

Have you ever noticed, it takes a lot longer to discuss vacations than everyday life. Here is the third and last hike, we did on our vacation to Sedona. Devil's Bridge is a moderate trail of .8 miles, one way. The roughest part of the trail was driving out to the parking site.

When they say passable by cars most of the year, it takes the whole road. It was probably a good thing we did this Thursday morning. I don't think we could have done it Friday because of a flash flood Thursday afternoon. The flood area include the forest road and trail for Devil's Bridge. Most of the trail is on a wash and I am happy we weren't there when the rain showed up.

I will admit that I didn't go to the top, Rudy did and got the photos from above. He said it was just as well since I don't do well with heights.